Rose of Versailles
by Penny Charlotte Brown
Summary: Criticism to the series.
1. Chapter 1

First of all, I want to apologies for this story, because it is not properly edited. I keep adding things (to answer reviews) but I really don´t have time for edit it. Here, at the top I will write some updates, but the real text is underneath this, so if you haven´t read that yet, I suggest you reading that first to get the idea of what this is all about.

Note, this story is not meant to insult anyone, but rather to disagree and stand against those "opinions" that Ikeda has.

Amerom, or whatever name you have.

It is bullshit what Ikeda said in those interviews. I am very much against those. I said my opinion very clearly in the critique-text. It could be great if she would come clean and make her statement about women´s rights, and I will not repeat my arguments here, because yo can find them below. I have a zero tolerance of what comes to mistreatment of women, children and animals. I have a short temperament and I do show it, if necessary.

And "my interpretation", yeah, it was my interpretation; that is this second chapter right here: the fact that André would probably not have been alive in the early 19th century. Him being alive was my interpretation. You know why? Because the fact is that he would have been thrown out much earlier in the story, and after been thrown out, his salary would have decreased so much that he would have difficulty of staying alive (not enough to buy food that would have kept him satisfied),who would really even hire him? with his reputation (that Ikeda had created with her interviews) no one would have hired him, no one, let alone after he got blinded. Who would really hire a blind? And after the Revolution broke out, Paris became bloody...Many heads were dropped (especially during at the early 1790s)

Ikeda s "opinion" only reflect on both the discrimination of women in Japan even today AND her own discriminatory thoughts on women and their rights. And there is someone in this site, who idealize Ikeda s disgusting and twisted ideas about women as object for men to use. She seems to fantasize about those things. I wonder what s wrong with her. Lack of empathy, at least. But think about Rosemary West, who together with her husband tortured, raped and killed many innocent women. I used to like André, before this person came to talk shit about him and the interviews given by Ikeda. I had thought that he would have a good heart and that he would treat women properly, with the respect, but these interviews change the picture completely.

As for you, yelling things like "Oscar can only be with André" belongs to the same category as "if I don´t have you, no one will. I´m going to kill you". That is exactly the attitude described are exactly the same. Living in a country, where domestic violence is prevalent and victim blaming is the fact. That has nothing to do with love, but just seen women as belongings. That is selfish and disgusting. women can do what ever they want, can be with whom ever they want without likes like you telling them what to do. Your "critical reviews" are unrelated and just shouting. Far from constructing criticism, more like childish envious screaming. Then again, there are sick people in this world, who even defend pedophiles...

To all of the readers here, this person mentioned above is really a model example of intolerance and discriminating attitude towards women. Just read her/his reviews on various stories of mine, and you can see that there is SHOUTING, aggressiveness and repetition of the worldview as women inferior to men, these "reviews" gives a good example of treating women as men s belongings, not human beings, but objects.

And then, back to the main point.

Argument such as "many men did x" does not justify anything. "Many people" for instance can use drugs, but that does not make it turn good. Many people supported Hitler, Mao and Stalin, even when they killed millions of people. That was an extreme case, but what I mean is that "many" men/people etc. does not justify anything! And even if the law itself does not discriminate something, doe not mean that the action itself turns good. For instance, if the law does not say raping an animal is a crime, the act itself is still considered disgusting and wrong! In that case, the law should be changed. There is something wrong with the law. And with the perpetrator himself.

Besides, you can read about those "many men" in the 18th century from the history books. BUT the historians/social historians/feminist historians etc. do NOT argue that those were romantically in love, unlike Ikeda lies about André (among other lies about him). Those "many men" were accustomed to see the marriage as an economic institution and they saw women as object they could use the way they wanted to. THEY WERE NOT IN LOVE! NOT UNSELFISH; nor GOODHEARTED MEN! but rather self-centered people, who cared nothing of the sufferings of women. In the real history books the reality comes very visible and realistic. If you can now see the problem between the interviews given by Ikeda and her manga/anime story. Those two are inconsistent with each other. And, like I wrote before, those "opinions" are reflections of her attitudes towards see, the picture Ikeda gives about André in her interviews contradicts the Manga/Anime.

And, of course, someone might answer to to that, using the same argument as "many...":"many noble ladies married noble men". So, Oscar would indeed marry a noble man.

To answer a review about Victor. I said in the text below that all men in the series are probably bad, one way or the other. Let me clarify that: I have been starting to get inside into gender issues in Japan, and I have noticed that double standard, gender inequality, sexual harassment and many other gender related issues are bad in Japan. By that statement I meant that Ikeda seems to have a very "traditional" way of looking things. Women are subordinate. By this I mean that for her it's normal that women stay home, take care for the children, don´t object if men harass them etc. When you think about Oscar, for instance, she is very naïve and falls for the first guy (André) who "confesses" his love for her without questioning anything, without knowing his true colors. At the beginning of the series, her father decides to raise her as a boy and during the series she acts more like a man. She is independent, brave and she does all those things that women are not allowed to do. But what happens in the end? She falls for a guy out f her naivety because she is inexperienced in love and accepts to become "his wife", meaning that she will become a subordinate. She will return to her feminine role as a "wife", which in this case means (it will become later) that she will have to stand his behaviour, because she is his possession (which has nothing to do with love). There are more this kinds of stories in Japanese cultural history, where cross dressing and gender roles are reversed, but at the end they will all return to their own gender roles. Because Ikeda´s contradictory statements and the romantic Manga create many problems and inconsistencies, I do not trust her to be able to create a male character that is suitable for a romance story for teenage girls (and that´s why I stated that). But, about Victor, again. I think that he is better than André. Why? Because the way he handled the situation with Oscar. Oscar refused his proposal and he accepted it. He didn´t try to kill her or rape her. He instead honoured her wishes and let her go.

About Fersen, I do not like him (I do not like playboys). But even he is better than André. Because at least he saw Oscar as an equal friend, and did not try to seduce her or take advantages of her.

Of course, France was full of men, and I'm sure that there is someone suitable for Oscar, whether within the series itself or outside. Even when I don´t care about the series any more, I do care about Oscar and her happiness.

And then, let me once more tell you; there isn´t just one "opinion" that Ikeda made, but she has given more interviews about André and according to those he really was a playboy. So, he did not "do it" just once.

Besides, a good and kind man with a heart wouldn´t do it even once. It suggests that there is something terrible wrong with his attitude towards women, in overall.

That´s one of the problem that was pointed out in other review; there is no suggestion of André as bad, and treating women like sex objects, and that is exactly my point; I thought he was a good man who could treat women well, but according to the interviews Ikeda had given, the story is completely different. In both Manga and Anime there isn´t suggestions about André behaving like that, but I am talking about the interviews. If it were just those Manga and anime, then it would have been fine, because there he is nice and I would still have liked him. He did some bad things there, as well, but no one´s perfect. But now those bad things he did will be re-examined here, as well. I had hard time to accept those interviews, because of the complete different picture that those give about André. He used to be the second best character (after Oscar) for me, and the best male character, but now he´s one of the top bottom. I cannot just ignore those interviews. I am against those. For many reasons.

In this text I want to point out the picture of him as he is said to be in the interviews by Ikeda. Those interviews are now the main point that creates many problems. Those I will analyse and compare to the Manga and the reality of the time period, as well.

But about Oscar dressing in men´s clothing. That´s not the issue here, André would accept her wearing men´s clothing. But what I try to say is that in historical Japan there were stories about women who took the roles of men, and vice versa. Meaning that the women would behave like men, have privileges meant for men and so on. In those tales it was best shown by women dressing as men. But at the end of the tale, the women went back to their feminine roles. Even when this includes the dresses, this is not the main point. The main point is that these women accepted the "traditional" role for women as less than men, they became the obedient, silent "other" who would "understand" their husbands going to "see" other women, their subordinate to tolerate the double standard. So, in this sense Oscar gave up on her career as a soldier (male role) in order to become a wife and mother. In Europe at the 18th century there were no women in the military. Noble women hardly ever worked. The commoner women usually had to work, but after getting married, they had to take care of the children and the household. They usually did some kind of work within their homes (for instance knitting for customers) or work in their farm. So, in this sense, if Oscar wanted to marry, she would have to give up on her career. Also, think about the danger of the military work, for instance; to a pregnant woman. And even that is not my main point, because I did write about it myself in my story the Second Chance. There, I thought that Oscar (although I did not write it there) would give her career as soldier (because of many reasons) but instead she worked at home, teaching fencing and perhaps wrote a book about military life.

But my main point here is that (actually it comes in the below text) that she fell for a guy, who treated women badly, and I very much doubt his ability to change. I have read number of cases of this kind, where a woman falls for a guy she thinks is amazing. But, then the reality comes into picture, he starts to cheat on her. When she confronts him, they start to argue. Instead of stopping the cheating, the man only hides his behaviour better, and cheating continues years. Besides that, the wife is usually confronted with abusive behaviour from the husband. Either psychological or physical, or both. With the history of André´s behaviour (in the text below), it is more than likely that something like this would happen. It´s the attitude that these guys have as women being sex objects, together with their enormous ego that creates problems (among other problems they might have). This kind of a picture I got from those interviews about André, seeing women as sex objects, not caring about anybody but himself etc. (the explanations are below)She already fell for him, but how long she would stand this kind of behaviour? As being raised as a man, she should be strong, but I don´t know. Many women (in real life) does not leave the abusive partner but instead try to defend them and try to find excuses for their behaviour. This is probably because the women are still so in love with the partners that they are so blinded and cannot accept the reality. This way, Ikeda is picturing Oscar as very naive, who believes André´s lies and fell for those. I think even that his behaviour when he tried to kill her was in fact a psychological blackmail; "if you give yourself to another guy, I will kill myself and you." Let´s not forget the fact that he was himself fucking around. But, hey! He´s a man! Double standard! These rules don´t concern men.

You may also want to read my other text about this subject. Also, there you can find the sources for these interviews.

This is an answer to Anna (and of course, to everyone). First, I want to thank you for your review. I am glad that you doubt me. Doubt is good. One should always ask questions and find answers. My history teacher said that one should always "go to the original sources" . For example, an historian who is specializing in medieval history should always go to the archives and read the original medieval written documents. And that means one should learn Latin. Ever since elementary school teachers have been encouraging us to learn different languages. In the case of the medieval historian he/she has to learn Latin. Otherwise what kind of a researcher he/she would be if unable to read the original texts? That is exactly what I have done; I have read the original Japanese books/magazines of the interviews of Ikeda. But let´s get back to that later.

About writing a perfect character. No, André was never perfect. It is more visible in the Manga version. But now I want to discuss about Anime and Manga. Those, who are familiar to only one; there are differences. Anime-I liked it better than Manga-is much nicer than Manga. André in the anime does not try to poison Oscar as he does in the Manga. That is not the only difference. Remember that the Manga is more original than Anime, so I prefer that. And also, I prefer the Japanese version instead of the English one, because Japanese is the original language.

Do you remember the episode where André saves Oscar from the chandelier that was about to crush her? Well, in the Manga (of the Japanese version of 1995) it is other way around. So, Oscar saves André. She saves a person that is hired to protect her? Well, these things happens. I forgive him. He´s not perfect.

Remember the incident when André´s clumsiness caused the accident where Marie Antoinette almost died? Well, that was an accident, unfortunate one, but he didn´t do it on purpose. By the way, the punishment that the king was about to give his, was historically accurate (in those days even a minor crime would cause a person, especially for a commoner, losing his/her body part or even life ) BUT I think he went overboard. The death penalty would have been far too harsh. Luckily Oscar intervened, and I must give credit for Fersen for defending André, as well. Anyway, André is clumsy. He´s even not that good at fencing. In the Anime version he takes the initiative to join the French Guards, but in the Manga version it was the general, who told him to do it. And also, remember the time when Oscar decided to go after the Black Knight? Well, in the Manga version he is much more reluctant. That is not all; in the berusaiyu no bara gaiden (side stories of the series) he seems to continue his reluctance that is evident in some parts. (I have noticed that at least those have some kind of translations available. Maybe fans have done this? Search online.)

So, he is not perfect. He is clumsy, reluctant to do what Oscar tells him to, not so good in fencing, and not as bright as Oscar, but those does not bother me. It is, however, totally different thing when he behaves badly towards women. There´s actually some kind of evidence within the Manga itself.

You should really get your hands on the Manga version (which you can do by yourself; old bookstores? online shops that sell old books/Manga? libraries?Or online versions of the Manga?). Preferably the most original translation of the Manga, because I have noticed differences even in versions published in different years. If you are fluent in English and some other language (for example, Italian) please look at them both and compare those, because depending on the language, the translations may come from different Japanese versions. Like I said, I had the 1995 version of the Manga. The original is from the beginning of the 1970s. I have once seen that, and there is difference. It seems that the character of André Grandier has been made nicer. I got the impression, when I was looking into the matter, that Ikeda somehow wants to keep this illusion of André ( the one I had before). It is visible when comparing the Manga and Anime versions and the different Manage versions. Also, I doubt that Ikeda thought that a foreigner (from her point of view) would read the interviews. Japanese people themselves live in highly hierarchical society, so even if they disagree with a person who has authority, they would never say that aloud. These interviews are kind of hidden away to make André look nicer. How many non-Japanese fan of Rose of Versailles understands written Japanese? And how many of those know about these interviews? I bet; not many. And Japanese don´t want to tell bad news. Besides, for me the best part of him was "kind" "unselfish" with a good heart etc. but that was just an illusion. So, yeah, I´m upset and angry, because he turned out to be complete opposite.

Anyway, in the original version of the Manga there is a very disturbing scene, that I knew but thought that he was not serious and only trying to get Oscar´s attention (but now I realize he would have gone through with it) , that is absent from the 1995s Japanese Manga version and, if I remember it correctly, also from the Anime. Remember, when Oscar met Rosalie for the first time? She was selling herself to Oscar because she had no money and her mother was ill. Well, in the original Manga version André asked "how much?"

When I heard about André being with a prostitute, (by the way it was very unpleasant way) I had a bad feeling about it. Because of my experiences (with reading neurology, psychology, criminal history, history of medicine and histories of detectives and watching crimes documentaries), I knew that one time would not usually remain one time. So, I started to look into it. And unfortunately my bad feeling was correct. I suggest you reading books/articles about these things, at least the researches done within gender studies about masculinity. Read the interviews and studies concerning the views of this type of guys. (go to your nearest university library to ask help). You´re eyes will open, when you understand what their thoughts are all about. Not very many are "curable". And also, I suggest you watch some crime documentaries, which you can find, for instance, on youtube. Try "murder documentaries" or "crime documentaries". Not all of those include the types of guys, but there are several cases.

"The sex "industry" [of today] operates within market dictates of supply and demand, and both sides have to take responsibility. Perpetrators on the supply side of the illegal sex industry are normally criminals and organized in what is a highly competitive and lucrative multimillion-dollar economy. On the demand side, users of prostitutes throughout the world are demographically diverse, and include men of all ages and characters. Sometimes these users may be ignorant — or choose to be ignorant — of the gender-based violence they involve themselves in"

( Broken bodies, broken dreams: Violence against women exposed (2005) United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA); Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN))

By the way, one cannot compare the 18th year old high school student of developed country to the 18th year old person in the 18the century France. Today, these high school students today are still very young, sometimes doing stupid things, in their teenage years, but in the 18th century Europe there was no "teenagers". Many of that age already had been working for years, many noble "women" were already married with children. In those days, person had a short period of childhood and after that became the adulthood with work and responsibilities. Many commoners (boys and girls alike) had already left their homes to work and to earn money for their future marriage. "Teenage years" is invention of the 20th century to prolong the childhood. So, an 18 year old in the 18th century France was an adult. So, André was not "young and foolish teenager".

About the translations, well, it is obvious that I cannot provide you any. Because the translation should be trustworthy (so the translator has to be independent and have no connections with me), but I will give you tips. First of all, prefer a person to do it. I have tried Google translator once just to see how it did. Well, it didn´t. The Japanese clause that I input there was only half translated right. Secondly, do not ask anyone to translate those all from cover to cover, because the information you are interested in, is scattered all over. These books/magazines include so much other information, as well. So, a person would have to go through those books/magazines and look for the information about André. By the way, In Japanese the term for "playboy" is "nikushoku danshi" meaning carnivore men (I have no idea where the term comes from ).

Now, finally, about the sources: yes, those are in can find the list of references at the end of the second chapter.

Thirdly, where to get a person to do that for you? If you already know someone, who is either fluent in Japanese or a Japanese is fluent in English (or some other language you may speak), you can ask him/her to help you. If not, then search for one. Send emails to different organizations/institutes, introduce yourself and explain them what you are looking for. Asking is always free, and mostly the people are nice to you. Try it.

In many countries there associations that have interest in Japan/Japanese culture. For example, there are multiple associations like that in my country "friends of the Japanese culture" being one. There is usually someone, who is fluent in Japanese.

Universities. Many universities have a centre for East Asian studies or Japanese studies, and even if they couldn´t provide the help you need, they can possible tell you where you could ask. Furthermore, if there is Japanese students who are fluent in English (or your native language), could also help you.

Institutions that provide language courses in Japanese. There are many different kinds of schools that offer at least some basic courses in Japanese and usually (at least in my country), the teacher is Japanese. Even if he/she couldn´t do it, you may get some suggestions.

Or just get connected with Japanese people. They might not be so fluent in English, but those who are, can possibly help you. With the experience that I have, Japanese people are very nice and worth to get to know, anyway. You don´t lose anything by trying. But if you ask a Japanese person a favour, remember to return the favour. That´s how it´s done in Japan.

You could always turn to your publishing house, that translates Japanese Manga. They might give you some ideas. Maybe, if you are lucky, they could translate the whole thing and publish in your own language, so that people would have access to those.

The most expensive way would be to use an official translator. There should be official translators in many countries. Either you native person, who is fluent in Japanese or a Japanese, who is fluent in English(your native language). Besides, like I said, the person would only have to look for the certain information, so only those parts would be translated.

There might be some other ways, as well. Think. Try. Do it. Ask. And, of course there is one way: learn the language yourself. It is difficult and it takes time, but it is worth it. In my opinion Japanese is one of the most beautiful languages that I know, so it is worth the effort. It is always good to learn something new, and your thoughts about things will also widen. It is not just the language that we learn, but also the culture.

 **But, now to the text:**

I used to be a fan of Ikeda´s Shoujo Manga Rose of Versailles. But that changed. In the following I will tell you why.

Rose of Versailles is-I think-still very good when wanting to know the history of France and about the reasons that led to the Revolution. And also the character Oscar is amazing(and no, I don´t think she´s perfect). This is the final story I will ever publish about the series, and it is non-fiction writing.

 **Introduction**

But here I´d like to discuss it from the different point of view: feminists' aspects. Why do I take this point of view? Because at the time when Rose of Versailles was published, in the early 1970s, the feminist movement was something new. Also I´ve heard that this Rose of Versailles is considered being of the kind, after all it had a strong woman character as a leading character there (Oscar). But when you look at it more closely, it is not.

The history of women is very fascinating, but at the same time sad. The Treatment of women depended on historical era, the social class among other things. But here I will bring up some main points from a very famous non-fiction book:

The daughters of Eve by Kaari Utrio:

Man had subjugated woman and she had become man´s possession, whose sexuality was strictly guarded. Woman wasn´t equally human as man was. Woman has been the merchandise in history.

Double standards (meaning that there were different rules and expectations for men and women) have risen from fears of men from thousands of years ago. Man had to control woman. There, where man is free to exercise his sexual impulse, woman is strictly tied to one man, and her purity is well guarded. Guarded because the fear of her disgracing her owner (read: father, brother or husband)

Because a husband couldn´t watch over the various men, who longed for his wife, he instead watched over his wife, restricting her life as much as possible.

Woman wasn´t a human, but a thing-an object that man owned. Marriage was an arrangement, in which a woman couldn´t influence herself. Woman was blamed for everything, after all-it was Eve who ate the apple in the paradise and both Adam and Eve had to leave. Men came up with the stories like that.

Through history woman´s life was restricted with many rules, and the husband could beat his own wife, the same husband that she was forced to marry in the first place. She could be abandoned, even killed by her father, brother or husband. If a husband abandoned her she had no other means to survive than becoming a prostitute. If a family had too many daughters (especially in the poorer part of the population), some of them were left to die. But boys were taken care of. Some unwanted baby girls were even sold to whorehouses, where they were first raised, and then forced to prostitution at a very young age. Within wealthier families, unwanted children were sometimes left in the hands of a caretaker in the hope that the baby would die. Or they were sent away to be raised by relatives, for instance. Girls in the wealthier families were forced to marry off as soon as possible.

As woman had to be a virgin when she married and stay loyal to her husband, the husband could fuck around as he pleased. He could, for example, mate with the servant girls, who-if unwilling-were thrown out without recommendations. But if they got pregnant, they were equally thrown out-without recommendations and with a ruined reputation that gave the no opportunities to work in any decent places. No one hired them, so the only way to support themselves was-prostitution.

This hypocritical double standards made woman the guilty part, even in the case of a rape. It was always the woman to blame.

In the 18th century France prostitutes usually "started their careers" because they had been raped while working, for example as maids, and they were to blame about it. While the men got off of the hook, the women were fired from their jobs because of that. They lost their reputation, and couldn´t get any job at all. In those days being unemployed, as we use the term, was illegal. So, they were forced to sell their bodies in order to live. They were looked down upon, suffering throughout their short lives-because there was no social security or medical knowledge that could help them-because they often got diseases from their "clients", and together with malnutrition and poor living conditions, many of them died.

While the prostitutes were looked down upon, their "clients" or their former masters etc., who had raped them, were considered "more manly" if they were "experienced". People often turned their blind eye to men, who behaved like this - their wives had to put up with the fact that their husbands were fucking around. They had no other choice, because there were no jobs for women outside their home (for the wealthier women). So, it was impossible for them to leave their husbands, who were the only ones to bring a living. And also, divorce was impossible in catholic France.

 **Problems with Rose of Versailles**

In this part I will tell you, what I found problematic in the story and I will give you some examples and prove them with evidence. What basically is wrong is the character of André Grandier. He is known as Oscar´s companion from the start and later as her "true love". There is a reason, why I put the quotation marks, but I will tell you later. Yes, he was first a side character, but later made into main character alongside Oscar. We all know the "romantic" scene between the two characters in the very end of the story. Everyone who has read or seen Rose of Versailles probably think of him as Oscar´s other half. And that´s what makes the character so important, right. This is Shoujo Manga, a romance and adventure story, and it is more than natural to have two characters falling in love with each other, right?

When I first read Rose of Versailles I thought André to be perfect for Oscar, because he was kind, unselfish, obviously in love and had a good heart, right? Well, I wasn´t the only one, who thought that way. But I was wrong. His character is misleading. Because in the story he is pictured as amazing, and there´s little evidence if any of the true character Ikeda had created. In the following I will go to that, and argue that his character is misleading, the story about his "love" towards Oscar (or to anyone else) is just a lie and that he really is the opposite than the Manga let us think. And sorry about the language beforehand. But this really isn´t anything pretty, so why pretend. I don´t embellish the reality, but merely stating the facts . This is as ugly as it can be. It´s far from romance and love.

I´m not the only one who thought that André was cool, because I´ve read that many people had said that when they read the story when they were children, they thought that André was perfect (those were their exact words). But when they grew up or found "Ikeda´s opinion" ; they noticed that he was exactly the opposite. Ikeda should have clearly stated what kind of a character André is.

So, let´s get into it.

 **About André:**

André with a prostitute

This all started, when I read Ikeda´s "opinion" that André had "experience" with a prostitute. I was shocked and disgust by the fact. You already know my reasoning for that, because I´ve written it above, but beneath I will tell you about the real André. I started to read all the interviews she had given, and found some more evidence of what André really was. So, when I say "Ikeda said" or "her opinion" I mean those words she had said during some interview. And no, there is no direct indication of this in the Manga. But after reading this, you may want to read your Manga again, and this time I´m sure you notice every little hints. For example; Oscar´s maids seemed to look at him that way. So, did he already fucked them?

So, André fucked a prostitute-a poor woman, who had probably been raped and had NO OTHER MEANS OF SURVIVE than becoming a prostitute-and at the same time jeopardise the reputation of Oscar ´s family. Being a servant that behaved unmorally was seen as the master´s fault. Outside the household the servants´ primary role was to convince to the public of their master´s superiority both wealth and moral aspects. Servants were expected to defend their master interests and reputations outside the household. And also, this creates inconsistencies with the Manga, because in reality he would have been thrown out years ago. If Ikeda would have really wanted to have facts there, she would have been written about him thrown out. But now, she takes few "realistic features" here and there, but then continues this unrealistic story about André still there "seeing only Oscar" "so in love" and all the other bulls..t.

So, André saw woman only as a possession- merchandise-that can be bought and used like a shirt. In Utrio´s book she said that buying the "services" of a prostitute wasn´t about gaining "experience" but to buy a living thing-in this case because women weren´t even human as men were, a prostitute was the lowest of them; so André bought a female dog he fucked with. Did he care about her? No.

 **André suffering?**

Someone said he was "suffering". From what exactly? He had a roof over his head, and his own room. In those days many commoner had to share a room with rest of their family-family size being average perhaps 6 to 8 people. He had plenty of food and drink-while some commoners even couldn´t get enough food for themselves. So, they died. André had clothing profited by his master, while other commoners had to use the same clothing for years-even after they were broken. He had education, while some commoners couldn´t even read or write. And his salary was more than average commoner was getting. If he really had loved Oscar, he would have been happy to be with her, to spend time with her.

But no, he suffered from…not "getting" from Oscar? More likely just "not getting enough" And how many times did he "get" from women he didn´t even see? According to Ikeda, he "didn´t even see other women". But he still fucked them?! I will come back to this later.

Yes, I think that André should have waited for Oscar, because I value a man, who can control himself and also the fact is, that with his selfish behaviour he ruined the lives of many women. Also Oscar said she could never sleep with anyone without being in love. I used to like André, but now knowing what Ikeda said, that´s no longer the case. Why did Ikeda say what she said? This is Shoujo Manga, right? Meant for teenage girls? It should be romance/adventure, but obviously the category is wrong. It should have been something else.

I´m personally sorry that this "romance" Manga, the "love story of Oscar and André" isn´t that at all. I don´t think that Ikeda did the right thing, when she created the real André, put him into a story that was meant for teenage girls, and lied that he is a wonderful character, and that the feeling Oscar and André had was romance and love. It is not. Poor Oscar, she must have been a laughingstock among the servants after "giving" to André. She had won…a badass (according to Ikeda he was "no gentleman").

I would have understood if he had fallen in love with somebody and about to get married (so that Oscar would have been his second love), but using a prostitute that was victim already…I don´t understand. Even if Ikeda said he was in love with Oscar, but come on…for me his actions speaks against that. She can say anything, she´s the author. I don´t think that´s love, but rather obsession.

 **Double standards**

But think this; Ikeda is Japanese. I have read various books from western travellers about their experiences in Japan. They all tell the same kind of a story. Here is one; A western traveller told the story of her Japanese friend, who was pregnant when she found out that her husband was cheating on her (I don´t remember was it with a prostitute or with a lover), she got upset and wanted for a divorce. But her mother in law came to her and told her that "it is natural that men do these things and she should just shut up". Then the mother in law accused the woman of embarrassing the family. Can you imagine! She was embarrassing the family, while her husband was fucking around! Men are still the innocent party, as we see in this story (this was real one). Ok, so Japanese women have forced to tolerate their husbands´ unmoral behaviour. Just like in Europe even as late as in the mid 20th century. But I don´t understand that some readers that are western women wouldn´t see this double standard in the story of Rose of Versailles. "It is natural"?! You don´t have to be a feminist to see the contradiction here. There are different rules for men and women. Someone said that no decent woman would even look at André. But most of these prostitutes were raped, and they had no other means of survival than to become prostitutes. So is he/she telling, that only "bad" women get raped? So it´s the victims fault?! I can tell you that it is not. The women were first raped by some piece of shit of men, and in other to live they had to give their bodies to be exploited by same kind of piece of shits -like André. Let me remind you that we´re living in the 21st century, and this Manga is from the 1970s, not from the 18th century. And Ikeda´s comments were made decades after the original Manga was published. I am sad to know that these attitudes still persist today. It´s like Ikeda is trying to brain wash young women to think that these kinds of "men" are wonderful. They´re anything but wonderful. I am personally glad that this Me too-campaign has had huge success worldwide and women are starting to talk about their experiences about rapes, harassment and such. Women are as valuable as men.

Back to the main story.

 **Eternal love? For Oscar? André kind?**

André just couldn´t control himself, and he didn´t care about the women. And his actions could have affected Oscar. But did he care? No! If he had really loved her he would have thought the best for her-even if it meant his suffering. But his actions tell a completely different story. Eventually he even lured Oscar…with the words he probably had been "practicing" (according to Ikeda, whatever that means…) with other women before her. So, he confessed his "undying love" to women? And promised to marry them? (that´s how they do it in South Asia: promise a marriage so that they can mate, and afterwards they abandon the women letting them deal with the consequences all alone) He was lying. But why would he had been "practicing" ? Of course he lied so that he could mate. So, if he was lying to them, what do you think he was all of a sudden telling the truth to Oscar? Logically thinking he said those to her, so that he could fuck her, too.

So, André wasn´t just "a passive young foolish boy with pretty face"(besides, almost every character was pretty; it was Ikeda´s drawing style) as someone had said to me, but rather he was active on his part. It seems he was not only buying fuck, but also he used his words of lies to get what he wanted. Far from innocent. He probably lured the women with promises of faithfulness and love (because that´s what Ikeda said that he had been "practicing"), but as soon as he had "got" from them, he vanished. Then, there is this question: did he have offspring? Hopefully not, because the destiny that waited for unwanted children and their mothers was terrible.

Children born to unmarried mothers were the source of often severe social disadvantages and legal penalties. In a society, where women sought marriage as a source of precarious stability, the marital prospects of unmarried mothers were low. As a result unmarried mothers often became prostitutes or were treated as such. Because of the absence of an effective social welfare system and the low wagespaid to most women ensured that for unmarried women the prostitution was the fate of many. For them, it was the only way to survive. And prostitution almost invariably led to disease, like syphilis. The diseased prostitutes, her hair and teeth lost in often fatal mercury treatments, was a victim of the social and economic circumstances of the age.

But André didn´t care. At all. For him, it was just fun.

 **The real André**

For André, it was first the prostitutes (and they were cheap), then the commoner women, who believed his lies. (by making them "give" him, they lost their reputation and were thrown out of their working places. Then they were forced to turn into prostitutes because no decent employer would hire them ). But that wasn´t enough challenge for him, so he turned towards Oscar. She was a challenge, because she was from the higher class and wouldn´t just so easily being lied to. So, he wanted her. Probable he had been so obsessed with her, because she hadn´t "given" him. Is it the way it works? At least what I have read, these kind of guys do hang around near the woman, who is not willing to "give" and try anything to "get", because it´s either their ability to win the difficult challenge or they are just obsessed with it. That is, until she "gives".

This is what I´ve learned when I was writing an essay about discrimination of women in South Asia. In many books the men told openly of their "conquests" to a researcher. They sweet-talk to women, and afterwards (after "getting") they abandon them, and treat them like dirt. "Sluts" they call them. (I wonder why there isn´t any equivalent word for males, who behave like sluts…)But with a decent woman they really get the challenge. They don´t give up until she had "given". It`s just a play for them.

Someone said that Oscar wasn´t perfect, and that´s true. But I wouldn´t wish this for any woman, that is to be the victim of a "player". Every woman would have deserved something better. No wonder he didn´t marry, because as a commoner he would have had to settle down, probably start a farm in some distant village with not much women, and so he would have had to use only one woman, his wife. But in Paris there was plenty to choose from.

That tells a story of an egoistic man-rather than man in love. He was just obsessed with Oscar. He even tried to kill Oscar, because he couldn´t bare it when she would-legally-be with other man (Oscar had to stay virgin-for him to use), but he himself had been fucking around, and that´s double standards. Oscar would have deserved someone better (and no, Fersen wasn´t much better(maybe a little, since he did not try to kill or rape Oscar). He had many lovers, so he was really a playboy. And I´m sure that every other man had their "experiences" now that I know Ikeda. But I had thought André was different, better than any other…). Yes, André did take the bullet for Oscar, but because he swore he´d some day would give his life for her as she had given hers long time ago. Just a payback time. Or maybe he just got in the way, because he couldn´t see. Besides, he already got what he wanted; he had fucked her, so mission accomplished.

 **André´s dream of marrying Oscar, and the attempted rape**

Ikeda said that André was dreaming of marriage with Oscar, but it was impossible, because of class difference. According to her, his biggest problem was that he belonged to the "wrong" class. It becomes very clear now, why…If he had been noble, which he wanted to be, he could be free to fuck around as much as he pleased. It was because of him being a servant with strict rules to follow (which he didn´t) and was suffering from not "getting enough". Noble men didn´t have those rules. Besides, he could have married Oscar (even against her own will), take her whenever he wanted, because there was no "rape in marriage"-concept at the time. She would have been his-entirely. And he could have taken few lovers aside (and they, too, would have been on his mercy). And then he could even have done the same with their kitchen maids. Would he have cheated on Oscar? Well, he did fuck other women, not even "noticing" them and same time being "in love with Oscar", so it´s highly possible. But Oscar would have been his, and only his.

But since marriage was out of the question, he wanted to take Oscar-by force. (Until now I thought he wouldn´t have gone through it, but now I´m not so sure) André tried to rape Oscar, and by raping her he would have disgraced not only her but her family as well. He would have send her to her misfortune; her father would have forced her marry someone she didn´t want-in order to save himself from lost of reputation.

And about Oscar being "queen´s lesbian lover". I don´t think so. She was raised as a boy and all her life she was told she was a boy/man, and so it is no wonder she was a bit confused. Wearing a man´s clothing doesn´t make anyone a lesbian. Besides, the historians said that queen only had Fersen as her lover, so she wasn´t a lesbian. But we cannot be absolutely certain (what Ikeda really thought). And even if Oscar had been "queen´s lesbian lover", at least they both respected each other, had feelings (whether friendship or something else) towards each other and neither of them was using the other. So, if they had something, it was mutual relationship with feelings and respect. There is nothing wrong with that. There´s nothing wrong being a lesbian or gay (except in those days being a gay was illegal, of course).

 **My opinion vs. "Ikeda´s opinion"**

Someone said I shouldn´t judge André, because "he was a man living in the 18th century". Well, no. He was a fictional character created in the 1970s, when the feminism was already begun. So, Ikeda could have created a man, who really would have been worth the part of the other half of the "romance story" for teenage girls. But no. You may say that "yeah, but Rose of Versailles is based on facts, on reality". Actually, no. Not all the facts were truthful; for example, almost all the characters in the story were good-looking. But in reality how many people are actually that good-looking? Secondly, both Oscar and André were very tall, but in those days people were much shorter. Thirdly, the palace of Versailles was so clean so that you could almost see your image in the floors. In reality the floors were full of dirt, waste and shit (and when I mean shit, I really mean it. There were hardly any toilets, and also the animals [at least pigs] were running around loose. So, both humans and animals did their shit there). And the biggest thing is Oscar herself; there was no way that a woman could be a commander. Women weren´t in the military. So, if you want the reality, Oscar should have been a man. So, if Ikeda bent the truth with some details, why not with André?

Ok, if we were talking about a pervert story for adults, which would have been fine. Because categorized as such, people like me wouldn´t even touch that. But I don´t expect this kind of characters in Shoujo Manga. Or were Americans right after all by saying that Japanese Manga is pervert?

So, the actions of André cannot be justified. Someone said "but he´s so good-looking". And that justifies his actions? Because he is "so good-looking" that he has the right to ruin (yes, ruin) other people´s lives. Oh, sorry…Women weren´t people, at least not full people. I mean ruin because when he lured them into bed with him with his lies and promises and after that left, he left the women to face the problems and hate, and let them into prostitution. To me I don´t cares how people look like, I judge people the way they behave (whether real or fictional). And I do not have any sympathy to a person that ruins people´s lives, no matter how good-looking.

Ikeda could have written André´s "experience" differently (and I don´t understand why he even had to have an "experience"). And also, she should have considered, what she said in those interviews. I´ve never come across with a romance story for teenagers where the main character is pervert. She should have just categorized this story as something else, and also said straight what kind of character she had created in the story itself.

Would it had been too hard to write a story about André, when 18, met a commoner woman, they fell in love and were about to get married? And then they had the "experience", but before the wedding she had died (disease? accident?) and he would still had stayed at de Jarjayes manor? At least that would have proven that he had a heart. But no, she couldn´t write that. She had to create a bad guy, who is just a women-user obsessed with Oscar. That statement really ruined my picture of André-for good. It was the story of Oscar and André that I started to like this series, but now…Ikeda really uses bad persons as her main characters, I´ve realized that now. But is this kind of a perverted selfish women-user really appropriate for a "romance story" for teenage girls? I don´t think so.

But we do have a freedom to create stories and characters as we like to, so it´s her right. But I am using my right not to read that kind of story.

 **Conclusions**

Ikeda´s description of André in the Manga differs from the André of her "opinions". We are all different people, and the way the Manga story is written, there are many ways to interpret the character. I admit, I interpreted it in the wrong way, put I´m not the only one. It is because of that misinterpretation that let me to start to read the story and even like it. And that´s why I was shocked, when I found out the truth. The ugly truth. I have wasted my time for nothing. What I think is that Ikeda should have written the story, so that there wouldn´t been any misinterpretations. That´s one thing.

The other thing is the categorization of this kind of Manga. This isn´t really (for my opinion) good for teenage girls, who are looking for a romance story. André is far from romantic character. He is disgusting, self-centred character, which one may expect to find in some pervert or other story full with criminals and bad guys.

And why couldn´t Ikeda create a character that really was good? She can´t? Too difficult?

Maybe I was a bit too harsh, but I was shocked with this information, and I wanted to make a point that I do not understand this kind of "love" and behaviour. And also I wanted to point out, that there were problems, such as the double standards and the culture that saw women as something less than men. This is all my fault, because I was expecting far too much from the author. I was expecting a true love story. But what did I get? A guy whose world revolved around his dick. Just another playboy. Besides, I don´t think this kind of character is appropriate being in the story for teenage girls.

This is my opinion-you may have some other opinion and I appreciate that. We are all different. But I don´t want to have anything to do with the series anymore. I have thrown the series into the trash bin-where it belongs to, and instead I will now focus on my studies and hopefully start my career as a researcher of woman´s history. The ones who had been silenced for centuries…

And I want to thank you for being patient with me. This isn´t an easy subject.

You can ask yourself of what kind of future would Oscar have with him. We know his past now: He cannot control himself and cannot take any responsibility of his own actions. He broke the rules when he was working as a servant. He didn´t care about his job nor his employees nor their reputations. He didn´t care shit about the lives of people he had ruined. He didn´t show any regret of his wrongdoings nor he even thought he was doing anything wrong. He was self-centred bastard, who could kill Oscar if she had been with somebody else. At the same time he could do whatever he pleased. He lied.

I know that people can change, but not this much. If he had been treating women like cattle for many many years, why would he suddenly change? This type of guys have that attitude deep inside them and they will continue behaving like that even after they´re married. He couldn´t be loyal nor think of anybody but himself. What if Oscar said "I´m not in the mood"? Would he raped her? Or would he fuck the nearest woman available? What if Oscar befriended with another man? Would he try to kill her in his rage? "You are mine, and only I can use you"?

I know for sure that Oscar´s life with him would be a living hell. She would have to put up with his fuckings (and I´m sure her heart would break many times), and at the same time be careful that she doesn´t appear too close with any other man.

She would be a laughingstock; if they never married, she would be called "slut", because she had "given" him. If they married, she would be stuck with him in the lousy marriage (no divorce possible). Even worse, if she got pregnant (hopefully not), because now she would be all alone taking care of a child (if not married the child would be a bastard, and that would make their living bad. Where would she find work? No one would hire a "slut"). If married, she would have to make excuses, when the child would ask "where´s father? Why isn´t he here reading me bedtime story?", what would she say? He´s busy fucking someone?)

He´s not suitable to any serious relationship, nor can he be loyal. Let alone he´s not fit to be a parent. What would he tell his son? "Women are like cattle and you can use them as you please?"

He would really had to regret all the bad things he had done over the years to a lot of people, he should pay for what he had done. And hopefully he doesn´t have any bastard children. (Most of the cases the unwanted children would have a short and awful life). If so, he would have to pay for their living.

And still I wouldn´t trust him; he´s a piece of shit that think he can use women like old shirts, without any consequences for himself. He is not going to change that much, and suddenly become a good guy. Poor Oscar (poor any woman, who are stuck with a guy like that). I wish she never had "given" him. Because now he ruined her, too. Worst scenario, ever. The researchers today say that these guys, who fuck around without considering anybody but themselves, are most likely to cheat…

So, like I said, this isn´t a love story at all, but more or less of a story of Oscar falling into his trap and losing her innocence. No wonder that Ikeda killed them both after that, because it wouldn´t end well.

Disgusting.


	2. Chapter 2

I thought about it for awhile, and then I decided that some kind of punishment is in order. Note; I didn´t make him blind (it´s been done in the original series).

 **Minific...**

In 1805 in Paris…

An 11 year old blond boy was walking in the streets of Paris. It was his first time Paris, but since his mother was originally from there, he felt excited to get to know the city. As he was walking down the street he saw an old blind man stumbling, so he ran to help him. "Get away!" was the man´s reaction for the boy´s offer of help. The man was grey and old, who knows how old…

"I´m sorry. I was only trying to help" he said and left.

"Wait!" yelled the man. "I shouldn´t have yelled like that…" he started "it´s just that…everyone is always trying to take advantage of me…thinking that I´m blind that they can get away from it…"

"…"

"But you´re just a kid, aren´t you?" he asked the boy.

"Yes. I´m eleven"

"So, you were born after the hell broke loose…in 1789, that was the same year I lost my eyesight…and ever since people have spit on me, treating me like dirt, because I´m blind."

"That´s awful!"

"You´re the first kind person I´ve met in years"

"But you weren´t always blind?"

"I…had an accident…"

"…"

"But that´s not what I regret" he started "sit here, my boy. Let me tell you a story" and the boy sad next to him.

"Every day for the past 16 years I´ve seen her look…"

"What?"

"Yes, even when I´m blind, I see the look on her face in my mind. Every day. That look of disgust…"

"It all started back in 1789…the 11th of July in 1789 to exact…"

"I was her servant. And her friend. Then, one night she called me into her room. As I stepped inside I saw the look on her face; it was full of anger and disappointment. Then I noticed that there was a maid beside her…"

"Is is true? That you got her pregnant?!" she yelled.

"Of course I denied everything, trying to get away from my responsibilities. But she persisted, and I finally admit it, and told her all about the women I´ve slept with. I had promised to marry them, but after the night, I disappeared and let them to face the consequences."

The boy was astounded.

"Yes, I was awful…and I didn´t care what happened to them. I let them to their ruin…"

"What did your friend do then?"

"She said I should marry the maid, but I refused. We argued, but my decision was firm."

"And? What did she do then?"

"She raised her hand in order to hit me, but then she stopped. It was then when I saw the disgust look on her face. "You´re not worth it" she told me and put her hand down.

"Then she arranged one of the male servants to marry the maid, giving them money. And afterwards she told me that I had let her down. That she had trusted me to do the right thing, but…"

The boy was anxious to hear more of the story.

"Then she asked me to leave."

"I will go to Paris, find these women, and I´m going to pay for all the damage you´ve cost to them." she said.

"When I refused to leave, she asked if I wanted her father to know about this. I said no. That was it. I made up my mind; I was leaving. Because at that point I realized that she would no longer trust me nor consider me as her friend…"

"I left early the next morning"

"What happened to the maid?"

"I tracked her down months later, and apologized to her. She told me she had had a miscarriage but she was happy with the man she married."

"After that I tracked all the others, as well. Most of them were dead, and the ones who were alive, I gave some money. Only then I realized how wrong I had done…"

"After you left your friend, did you…be with women?"

"No. I had had enough. It was that that had ruined everything…I didn´t want that anymore…"

"But what did you do afterwards? How did you manage to survive?"

"I started to spin baskets, collect everything I could sell…"

"Must have been hard…"

"It was. Being blind and all…"

"I´m sorry…"

"You´re a good kid." he smiled "promise me you won´t do like I did. It´s not worth it, believe me. You´ll just end up hurting people, who should have deserved better. Much better."

"I promise. My mother always tells me to behave properly towards girls."

"Well, your mother is a wise woman."

"But did you ever meet her again? Your friend?"

"No. Every day I wish I would meet her, but at the same time I´m afraid of that."

"I´m sure she´s not angry anymore…"

"I´m sure she´s not, but…after what I did, I doubt she has very much trust in me…Think of me as some kind of a loser…"

"…"

"Thank you for listening my story…"

"I gotta go. My parents are probably worried about me." The boy got up and said goodbye to the old man. Then he ran home.

"Mom! Dad! I´m home!"

"Finally, young man. Where were you?" his father asked.

"I was getting to know Paris. After all it´s where my mother is from."

"Alright then, but be careful. You´re not familiar with it and you might get lost."

"Yes, dad."

"Oscar!" yelled the man "Our son is home!"

The End.

 **Explanations to the minific.**

This is the story of what would have really happened to André. Why wasn´t he caught in the story? Because it was written that way. But in reality, the changes of him getting caught would have been very huge( **gossips** like him being seeing with prostitutes, pregnant maids or other commoner women including the prostitutes (by him), and who knows, if the general would have walked into a situation where André was fucking the kitchen maid…it´s obvious by now that any woman would do to André)).

The general would have thrown him out years ago and replace him with someone, who really appreciates the job.I am quite sure that the general would have thought about the reputation of himself and his family. Reputation was everything for him.

No one would hire André as a servant, because his reputation. The only jobs for him would be those, that no one wanted to do; executioner or tanner and so on. Those people, who worked in those professions, were treated badly…And of course, he wouldn´t get so much payment, and since the food was expensive, he must have had a hard time surviving.

There´s an saying that -You get what you order (meaning if you behave badly/do bad things, eventually you will have to face the consequences)

André treated people like dirt, it´s time for him to know what it feels like.

And same goes to Ikeda. With her "opinions", she lost a fan. Not everybody appreciates this "new" André. With her words suggesting that he was a player, changed my views of him. I started to add pieces together, and it made me realize that I have come across with this type of men before; mostly in gender studies and in murder/crime cases. A picture came into my head: he was full of himself and obsessed with Oscar (and no; not in love. why wouldn´t he be obsessed with a beautiful virgin…). For example, there is a case of the murder of Emma Walker (you can find it on Youtube), whose ex-boyfriend was like André (now we`re talking real crime that happened). Emma met him in High school and they started dating. Soon she found out that he had other girls, as well (=he was a player).But he was very jealous of her, and he texted her all the time, trying to own her (sounds familiar?). Finally, when she left him (because of the other girls he had been seeing all along), he killed her (I´m not saying that André would do it, but with these type of guys you cannot never be sure). His ego couldn´t stand it.

That was just on story (real world is full of those, unfortunately). That´s how I see André now. With Ikeda´s "opinions"( didn´t really care about anybody, lied, broke the rules, ruined the lives of many women, didn´t show any regret at all, acted like he could do anything (=full of himself) but at the same time kept a close watch on Oscar (= obsessed) etc. (read my other story about this)). Ikeda does not say these words. I concluded this myself. Because the opinions she made (I will tell you about those later on) and combining those with the historical facts (double standards, inequality, the rules of how to behave, women were blamed for everything etc. I did discuss those in the other text), You have to place André´s behaviour in its historical background, in the 18th century France. What kind of consequences did his actions bring? To whom? What kind of consequences? And so on. Did he know that there was going to be consequences? (I´m sure he knew)And if he did know, why did he continue all the same? And so on. Analysing the given information. I have done just that and I concluded that André really was a selfish and full of himself. Think about, for example, Dianne. She was about to marry a man, when he suddenly ran away before their weeding night. So, she killed herself. She had probably "given" him already. She had trusted him and thought he was about to marry her. Not only that her heart broke, but also the man left her face the consequences, because she had "given" to him. She was left with a shame, and she didn´t have any other opportunity than to become a prostitute. But she decided to kill herself. Now, how many "Diannes" had André let down?

I thought that he had really loved Oscar (note; Ikeda never says he didn´t love her. It is me who conducted this through analysing his behaviour. I don´t think someone behaving like he, would really love anyone). But no. I was sad to realize that the love story I thought was so cool, turned out to be something completely different. He had unhealthy obsession with her and a big ego, his world revolving around his dick. I know for sure that this kind of a story wouldn´t end well. I was really looking forward of a true love, but got this…Ikeda wasn´t really able to write a love story at all.

The real world is full of stories with cheating, violence against wives etc. You may want to search into criminology for more information.

And about cheating; there are number of research done by psychologists. For example: psychological-predictors-infidelity-cheating-marriage. You will find more on the internet. André seems to be the type, who is more likely to cheat (I did mentioned that before in the other text).

About the information (about what Ikeda had said): If I remember it correctly, there were some kind of text, were fans of the series discussed about the persons, and Ikeda responded to those. As you know, Japanese are very polite, even to extremes. Meaning that they try to say things beautifully, no matter how ugly they really are.

 **About the information:**

First fan was saying that how she thought about André being this perfect guy, but later found out exactly the opposite. Ikeda said that she had made a promise about the characters being gentlemen, but that this promise didn´t apply to André (I wonder why…). Then she says that "he´s only a human…"In some other part/book Ikeda says André "as Frenchman" I don´t remember exact words, but it was something like "he knew the art of love", "He was experienced"

Then I remember some fan saying that he had been "doing Odysseys"(you know about the story of Odyssey, right? He was travelling around, being with women etc. while his wife waited patiently him at home ), but Oscar because she was in love with Fersen, didn´t pay attention to André. (she did have a hunch, because later when she was in love with him [poor Oscar], she made him promise loyalty "do you promise to love me and only me for the rest of your life" or something like that)I may add something here about Oscar, she was intelligent, but in some perspective she was very naive. First, the way she reacted when someone was accusing the Royal couple. She had hard time believing that people were starving and taxed to dry. (she did open her eyes later). Secondly, she was in love with Fersen for too long, I´d say. She knew nothing would come out of it, but she still carried on loving him. Foolish, but that´s human. Thirdly, she fell in love with André. She was inexperienced in this respect, and I think that she fell for his lies. She was too naïve to think any bad about him. But what if she had known about André´s behaviour? I mean in details, and adding the reality, the way these women and prostitutes were living. I wonder what she had said if she knew how most of the prostitutes "started their career", would she still have been so naïve about André…

These were just examples, there were some other expressions about the real André. One more I can remember, this was when an interviewer asked Ikeda about the engagement plans of Oscar and Victor. Ikeda said something like "André had opportunity to "visit" woman…" after he had heard the news…

Oh, and some other part of a text I found that André "because he was so fluent in his love confession to Oscar" that he had been "practicing it from time to time". Practising? like where? with a mirror? I don´t think so, after all if you have a target (a woman) you practice with, you will always get the feedback…besides, he had been doing this "odysseys"And because he continued doing so, obviously he didn´t regret anything. The only thing that there is in the Manga, is that he is so concerned with his own life, feeling sorry for himself , crying etc. (not even one thought of the poor women he used in his own good) . And breaking the rules; in the real historical context the servants would have ruined the reputation of their masters´s etc. (I did explain that in the other text)

If you remember, I mentioned it before, but women, who had male visitors, were thrown out, lost their reputation etc. (it was in the other text). By acting this "Odyssey" n way, he ruined the lives of many women.

To answer a review for me being childish. Well, I do take this subject passionately, firstly because of the attitude Ikeda has in this Manga. The attitude that women can be used as sex objects, like they´re not human beings. She was even laughing at it. And she failed-for obvious reasons- to mention to the readers how harsh the reality the women had to face. She deliberately left facts out of the story. In my "story" I just said that what would have been happened in the real life. She could write a story of these women, who André had used. Maybe then, you realize that his actions were anything, but laughable. Why has she failed to mention the harsh reality for women? I will come back to this. And about the "childish", well…this Manga is meant for teenage girls (in the eyes of the law; children), and what kind of image is Ikeda giving them? That seeing and treating women as sexual objects is fine? If they will learn this in their teens, then in the adulthood they can put up with any kind of treatment? As a known figure, and one of the female Manga-artist, I think Ikeda should really consider what kind of image she is giving. Doesn´t she have any responsibility?

Secondly I am passionate about this is, because it´s about André who I liked ( because the way he was described in the Manga ). In the Manga he was said to be "kind", "unselfish" and "man with a heart". But in those interviews he was said to be a player. I said this already, but let me say it even more simple way: So, he chased women, lured them into sleeping with him and left afterwards. He made promises, but never even attended to keep those. Probably the women got pregnant, and went to tell him that. What did he do? Laugh at them? He knew exactly, what kind of future the women would have, but didn´t do anything to stop it. He did not consider anything wrong in his own actions.

So, the women got fired from their jobs, because they were "whores", and couldn´t get any job. They had only two options: to die or become a prostitute. Well, many people don´t want to die. So, they became prostitutes, which wasn´t exactly glamorous those days, lived in poverty, and were treated as trash, probably had miscarriage, and went weak. Even if the baby was born alive, he/she didn´t have a good life: most of them died young. The women got diseases, weren´t able to cope with those, and died lonely. All because of André´s actions. That is anything but "kind", "unselfish" behaviour from "a man with a good heart". So, Ikeda was lying all along. He is nothing but selfish cruel man, who treats women like dirt. And to put such a character into a role for romantic hero… joke for a century!

I´d rather watch the real life documentaries and read research reports on the subject, at least those are honest.

And about the question whether André had syphilis, it is more than likely, or at least some kind of a disease. The prostitutes got diseases from their "clients" and passed them on to other "clients", as well. The prostitutes lived a very short life and painful life with their diseases, because there weren´t proper cure for those. For example, the syphilis was treated with mercury… If they didn´t die because of the diseases, they died because of the treatments. And many prostitutes did die fairly soon.

Syphilis, if not treated, could have lead to different kinds of symptoms in heart or in brains (Neurosyphilis), like mental illness or changing in personality…that would explain a lot…But yet, before that phase, André would have had changes in his skin, and other visible marks…Those were never shown in the Manga…Makes me wonder, if this was yet another point Ikeda failed to mention/describe…Of course, not everyone, who had the disease, actually got the symptoms. Or Ikeda just didn´t want to ruin his pretty face. Anyway, I do not know, whether Ikeda thought that André had syphilis. But, if looking at a historical point of view, a person, who behaved like André, could have easily had syphilis. Moreover, when one loses his eye, usually the other eye works fine. But André lost his eyesight. There could be some other medical issues, of course (like I said, I had no idea of Ikeda´s thoughts), but there is a rare form of syphilis that causes blindness. Or if treated with mercury, it can also cause blurred vision. In any case, it was probably entirely his own fault. It was not Bernard or Oscar, who made him blind. Karma, I should say. In that case, if he had syphilis, he might have become sterile, as well…

You may find these 2 documentaries interesting: the Syphilis Enigma (Medieval Disease Documentary[don´t let the title fool you, even if this is about Medieval, syphilis was still present in the 18th century. And there was no cure… ]) and the Great Pox: the history of syphilis. You can find these both in Youtube.

and an article: Rare Form of Syphilis That Infects the Eye And Can Cause Blindness Found In The American Northwest. in Medical Daily Oct. 15, 2015. Found: rare-form-syphilis-infects-eye-and-can-cause-blindness-found-american-northwest-357480

Oh, and you are quite saying that it is difficult to say anything negative about him.

Back to prostitution…

Besides, there wouldn´t be any prostitution if there weren´t these "clients". André, being with a prostitute, was using her (a poor woman, who was probably raped and was forced to sell her body), didn´t really care about her. He was only using her as a tool. I wouldn´t call him a good man. In my story he really gets the end he deserves. Besides, it was him, who caused himself misery by getting blind. And also the fact, that syphilis can be painful. No wonder he cried a lot…

It´s not just about this story, or about André, but I see this subject more as a worldwide problem and by glorifying it in this Manga Ikeda agrees that it´s alright-or even hoped characteristic-for men to take advantages of women and even ruin their lives. Like I said it was a huge problem in the 18th century France (I´ve wrote about it in the other text) and, in Europe women had been struggling to get their voices to be heard and to get the same rights than men has. It took decades, and still gender equality isn´t accomplished in the way it should have been. Still today many countries are at the situation that 18th century France was. Ikeda obviously thinks that this inequality is justified and that women can be treated as they didn´t matter, that they were only to "serve" men. That kind of picture I get from her interviews. That is why I´m so passionate about this subject and I´m more than willing to sacrifice André. I´m not going to shut up.

I started to look deeper into Japanese society after this incident. Although I appreciate many aspects of Japan and Japanese culture and society, this gender inequality is something that is lacking far behind. Japan is among the top countries in the world, but when it comes to gender equality, Japan ranks 114th in 2017 in the list! No wonder this attitude of women as sex objects ends in the Manga for children!

The worldwide campaign #MeToo-movement only brought the many problems of Japanese male dominated society into surface. The sexual harassment is wide phenomenon that takes place everywhere in the society; in schools, workplaces, public transportations…just mention a few. But the women are too scared to say anything. It has been common for man (customer, boss, colleague etc.) to grasp a female employee´s (for example, in a company) ass, forcibly kiss her and so on. If these women said anything about this (complained), they were either told to shut up or lose their job. In the minds of men, they think that they have done nothing wrong. If a woman comes out and talks about been sexually harassed or even raped, she is immediately accused of being a liar or that "she had it coming". The actions of men were never questioned. And it´s not just about the behaviour of these men, but officials and also the public keeps quiet about it, or in Ikeda´s case-even glorifies it. Women do not usually report harassment or even a rape to the authorities, because of being afraid of the attitude towards themselves. Even if woman would report it, many police officers (of whom are mostly men) would try to get the rape victim to drop the charges. And even if the man is being prosecuted, he will hardly get any punishment in Japan.

If no one is doing anything, then the same practice will continue. Women are treated as sex objects, something less than men. Why? Because of their gender? I think this practice should be questioned.

In the case of South Asia, there is this one case I remember:

There was an article about the women living in a small village in Bangladesh. During the 1970s Pakistani soldiers raided the village and raped the women. Even at the time the study had been done (in the 1990s), these women were still blamed for it. "Whores" they were called. They were the ones, who had been disgraced their family. The other villagers wanted nothing to do with them. Their own husbands blamed them. During the raping, it was the HUSBAND´S honour, that had been violated, because another man "had slept" with his wife. The violated women never got any understanding or help. Instead they were led to deal with pain, guilt and shame. It is clear, that these women were just tools for their husbands. Something the men can own.

Same kind of an attitude (that men can use women as sex objects without getting any punishment. And the failure to mention that this kind of behaviour can-and often did-led to women´s destruction, and sometimes even to death) is present in this Manga, as well. As long as these attitudes are not being questioned, nothing will change.

I want to change this. World widely. I think that women should be treated as equal to men.

Thank you for your reviews, I appreciate that you take time to read this. I am sorry about the text, it´s perhaps a bit confusing, because I add information some time to time. It is very unfinished, because I don´t really have much time to edit the text, so that it would be fluent form the start till the end.

About the sources; Well, I did throw everything away. Every single book about Rose of Versailles. I don´t remember exactly, in which books those sentences were. I will provide you a list of the books at the end of this. These books I had at the time I was searching for the information about André. Ikeda´s opinions weren´t in any major article, but those were gathered here and there. There were bits and pieces of information in many of the books below. I am sure you know many online bookstores, where you can order them, but I used CDJapan-online shop. Some books I bought in Japan.

And about André´s blindness. Well, I didn´t exactly look in it, so I have no idea what made him blind according to Ikeda. But, then again I really don´t want to know more about her opinions, point of views or stories. I had enough. But I do not remember Ikeda ever saying anything about the conditions that the prostitutes were living. I think she´s giving this fact a very pretty and romanticized picture. She even laughs at it; when she told about "André´s experience with a prostitute, when he was 18", she laughs. Check it out yourself and you will see.

Apparently it is normal for Ikeda that a "happy couple" are living happily together, the husband "loves" his view, while he sometimes goes and visits prostitutes. It is, of course, matter of an opinion. I do not call this love. And also I see the problem with prostitution itself. etc. I just knew these facts already, when I heard her "opinions". So, everything else here, is from other sources. And about André "being human"…well, I see it differently. For me, that means something else. We humans are animals (Darwin´s theory of Evolution), but at the same time we think we are better than other animals, so being human means that we have the ability to think before we act. We have the ability of being kind to one another, take others into consideration and we can control ourselves. To me André´s behaviour is very primitive…I know I´m idealistic. And I know people make mistakes. But I don´t see André making mistake here. Person can make a mistake once, after that he/she will try to avoid making the same mistake again. Besides, making mistake means that person does something because he/she doesn´t know that doing it is wrong, or he accidently does something without meaning to…(maybe going too much into philosophy…), But André knew about the conditions that the prostitutes were living in, he knew that luring a maid/some other working woman(perhaps a factory woman)into bed with him, would cause the woman to suffer the consequences (which were terrible, as I have already pointed out). But he still kept on doing it. He made no mistakes, he was deliberately willing to ruin the lives of others because of his own benefit.

I am quite busy myself with my studies, and also I have already said my points. I hope it was clear enough, but I have nothing more to add. I have dedicated more than enough time for this already. But please, check things out more if you want to.

I would have also accepted, that if Ikeda had made the Manga that is realistic, showing every aspects of it, forgetting all about romance. She would have shown André´s true colours (showing him chasing after women, and lying to them etc.), and brought his victims there, as well. The age limit would have been that for adult. I do not like the romanticizing of a player, who treats women like dirt. I would even have liked the story (I wouldn´t have liked André, of course, but because in that story he would probably have been developing syphilis, it would have been interesting to follow it.). And of course, Oscar would never being with him, because he would have been thrown out.

And then, finally; about the Second Chance-story. Obviously, I wouldn´t have ever had written it, if I had known the truth. But since it was made sci-fi already, I can easily picture it a parallel world, where André is a real man, with a heart. After all, even some scientists argue that parallel worlds do exist.

And one piece of advice; if you are writing about André that he was a good guy like I did in my story, and someone starts to give you the shit "oh, but he was with a prostitute…" , tell her to go to Hell. It´s Ikeda´s fault that the whole story is inconsistent and twisted, and that detail does not exist in the Manga. She was telling one thing in the Manga and other in the interviews. Besides, why would anybody want to glorify detail with an attitude towards women obviously belongs to the Middle Ages?

I link these Ikeda s opinion s to discrimination of women, whether Japanese or "others". For instance, the Karayuki-san in the late 19th and early 20th century, Nanjing massacre and rapes and "comfort women" during the Pacific War, the Japanese men going to explore South East Asian women in the 1960s and 1970s are all evidence of seeing women as non-human, tools for men. They really didn´t see the victims or their sufferings important. Even today some Japanese politicians and other influential people seem to ignore or deny these actions. Looks like Ikeda is one of them who thinks that women can be used as animals or tools.

And like I already explained, if he had being acting like that, he would have been thrown out (there s a reality for you) and the story would have turned out very differently, he would have been living on the streets and Oscar would have a good man (maybe a noble) or she would have been strong enough to cope on her own. It was Ikeda s twisted story and lies and the real (put in the historical settings) would have ended differently.

I had some list of sources at the end of the other text. But of course, there are more books available. You can find (I´m sure you already know) more information on various themes, like the history of women in Europe, about class differences, about servants and Masters in the 18th century France, about prostitutes, about syphilis and other diseases, about mental illness, neurology and so on, in your nearest university library. You can go to librarian to ask about things that you want to know more about. He/she will help you to find books about the subject etc. Also, internet is useful, and you can find some information there, as well. Wikipedia is not reliable, but if you can find academic articles or even books, that´s great. There are some websites, that provides academic articles, but those are usually free only for students or other members of a university/other institutions.

And also, I recommend you to contact Ikeda herself, because she knows more than anyone. She can surely tell you whether she thought about André having syphilis or not. And of course, ask anything you want about André, about anything. I don´t know what is her reaction to letters, but usually writers/artists etc. do like having mail from readers. I also do not know, which language/s she speaks. Because she knows a lot about European history, I would guess she knows at least one European language (French? English?) Best place where you can send the letter is probably her publisher Shueisha co. Margaret Comics. They have an office in Tokyo. I don´t know the address, but you can find it on the internet.

 **Sources:**

About these sources; some are yearbooks, some are Manga, either spin off stories or children´s books. There are information also in the spin offs (at least in those Rose of Versailles 11-14. After/before a story there are Ikeda´s text where she tells more about the story). Like I said, the information about André is to be find here and there, bits and pieces. Also, the cards include explanation booklet. Be my quest and go through those all. (I hope I remembered everything. )The original Rose of Versailles isn´t here on the list, but I had that, too. It was 1990s reprint.

Ikeda Riyoko uruwashi no sekai, published in 2017

Ikeda Riyoko no sekai 40th anniversary, published 2012

Berubara kids, first part. published 2016.

Berubara kids, last part. published 2016.

The Rose of Versailles spin off 1-2, 2004

The Rose of Versailles Karuta (Japanese cards)

The Rose of Versailles 11 , published 2014

The Rose of Versailles 12 , published 2015

The Rose of Versailles 13 , published 2017.

The Rose of Versailles 14 , published 2018.

Versailles no bara Daijiten Rensai Kaishi 30 Shunen kinen rensai , published 2002

Now, about the sources: yes, those are in Japanese. Below you can see the list that includes the books/magazines. You can find those online. Japan has its own store, but for some reason I cannot add the address here.

About the reference list, usually when I write that, I have the books/articles with me so that I can check the important information that is inside the books. But, like I said, in this case I didn´t have those anymore. Here, I will provide you a link to the books/magazines that you can look yourself. Because this page does not allow full links, I will give you instructions. Go to the cdjapan online shop. Add these following to the existing address. ... .jp. Or you can go to the page and put "rose of Versailles" into the search and see the results yourself. Every item has a short description in English. What you are looking for is the year publications, the magazines that have some kind of discussion about the series, the "karta" that is the cards (there is a booklet, you are interested in, included) and even the side stories(published in 2010s) include some kind of information etc.

The books/magazines I had can be found in cdjapan:

. /product/NEOBK-2064926?s_ssid=e468d85be036db3e7d

. /product/NEOBK-2193730?s_ssid=e468d85be0310810e3

. /product/NEOBK-2036034?s_ssid=e468d85be0310810e3

. /product/NEOBK-1821234?s_ssid=e468d85be0310810e3

. /product/NEOBK-860113?s_ssid=e468d35be032bb3193

. /product/NEOBK-1929876?s_ssid=e468d35be032bb3193

. /product/NEOBK-1975695?s_ssid=e468d35be032bb3193

. /product/NEOBK-1462858?s_ssid=e468d35be032bb3193

. /product/NEOBK-993609?s_ssid=e37eb55be0331faea1

. /product/NEOBK-1685630?s_ssid=e37eb55be033949e53

more books/magazines that may have some information, as well.

. /product/NEOBK-1725497?s_ssid=e37eb55be0331faea1

. /product/NEOBK-1548081?s_ssid=e37eb55be0331faea1

. /product/NEOBK-1573093?s_ssid=e37eb55be033949e53

. /product/NEOBK-1328348?s_ssid=e468d85be0310810e3

 **Literature**

Black, Jeremy 1990: _Eighteenth Century Europe 1700-1789._ MacMillan History of Europe: London.

Doyle, William 2002: _The Oxford History of the French Revolution_. Oxford, University Press.

Hobsbawm, Eric 2010(1962): _The Age of Revolution_ 1789-1848. Abacus: London.

Huldén, Lena 2008: _Den sexbente fienden_. Schildts:Helsinki.

Maza, Sarah C. 1984: _Servants and Masters in the 18th Century France_ : the uses of loyalty. The Princeton Legacy Library.

McClelland, J.S. 2003(1996): _A History of Western Political Thought_. Routledge:London.

Pascoe, C.J 2007: Dude, You're a Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High . (Especially the chapter 4 is interesting.)

Rossi, Paolo 1997: _La Nascita della scienza moderna in Europa._ Gius, la Terza & Figli S.p.A.: Roma.

Sugg, Richard 2011 _: Mummies, Cannibals and Vampires_. The History of Corpse Medicine from the Renaissance to the Victorians. Routledge :Great Britain.

Utrio, Kaari 1985: The Daughter of Eve: History of women, children and family. Finland.

Walle, Thomas Michael 2004: Virginity vs. decency: continuity and change in Pakistani men´s perception of sexuality and woman. _South Asian masculinities: context of change, sites of continuity._ (ed. Radhika Chopra, Caroline Osella and Filippo Osella). Women Unlimited: An Associate of Kali for women. New Delhi.

 **Websites of the articles:**

Jeanne Clegg 2015: Good to Think with: Domestic Servants, England 1660-1750*. _Journal of Early Modern Studie_ s, n. 4 (2015), pp. 43-66. bsfm-jems

Mieszkowski, Katharine 2007: The filthy, stinking truth . The messy history of cleanliness, and why our obsession with dirt may be making us sick. _Salon_. 2007/11/30/dirt_on_clean/

Website: r/AskHistorians

How filthy was Versailles? Why was it allowed to be so? (This is a conversation with historians and it's about the document on Paris as a filthy city in the 18th century).

r/AskHistorians/comments/256ooy/how_filthy_was_versailles_why_was_it_allowed_to/

.uk

. /broughttolife/techniques/miasmatheory


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